


Zodiacal Dust

by kurth_naga



Category: Queen (Band)
Genre: F/M, FLUFF!!, SO MUCH FLUFF, i put some of my own physics undergrad material in this cos im just that bitch, its just a cute lil first kiss scene ok thats all this is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 04:27:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18461483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurth_naga/pseuds/kurth_naga
Summary: April 1968, Imperial College London -  almost at the end of your time at University studying Astrophysics, and you’ve been falling for a certain lanky, fluffy-haired guitarist (who just happens to be your lab partner) for the past three years. Now that time’s almost up, maybe it’s time to do something about it.





	Zodiacal Dust

It was honestly too late for this. You’d been up in the lab study room for what seemed like days on end, blurring into one another, trying to cram as much of this stupid maths into your brain as possible before that fated final exam next week that would surely hit you like a ton of bricks.  _Why am I doing this?_  Great, there was the existential crisis coming. Luckily, you’d had the calming company of your lab partner to help you get through this, but surely Brian must just be getting sick of your constant questions and frustrated I-don’t-knows - he had to study just as much as you did, after all, although you always considered him to be much more naturally intelligent out of the two of you. The typewritten equations on the page in front of you were all starting to meld into one another.  _This is pointless._

“Hey, are you still here? [Y/N]? Hello?” Brian said, waving his hand in front of your face, breaking you out of your mild stupor. “Y-Yeah, just about, I think…” you stammered, almost dropping your pen. “Still not getting this whole orbital transfer thing, to be honest… I mean it should be easy, right? We’ve been here for three years, I should be able to–”

Hey, don’t panic. We’ve got time before the exam.“ Brian said softly, pulling your pad of paper towards him and eyeing up your page of messy mathematics and scribbled diagrams. "Okay, so first of all… if you’re doing the calculation for the Sun, keep everything in metres when working out what mu is, because then the units of G and M work, then convert to kilometres at the end. Plug in those values and it should check out.” You did exactly as he said, quickly working the maths through and finally, the answer made sense. “Well, that seems reasonable,” you said, putting the pen down and breathing a deep sigh of relief. “See, told you you could do it.” He smiled and replaced the pen in front of you.

“Yeah, but not without your help. You might as well just take this exam for me.”

“You reckon you could disguise yourself and pull this hair off?”

“Point taken.”

You were desperately trying to ignore the knot that was forming in your stomach, but it was only made worse when the only other student in the room besides you and Brian got up and left, throwing you a nod on his way out. “Shit, must be getting late… the room closes at 8pm.” Anything to distract you from thinking about how his hair framed his face, how the light from the overhead lamps fell on his skin, about how his long fingers were just inches from yours.  
“We’ve got time. You’re gonna be a master at this by the end, I promise.”

He was so kind, so gentle; they didn’t make men like him any more. You’d been grappling with your feelings for him almost as long as you’d been grappling with the degree content, trying to balance the feeling of excitement going into lectures with the butterflies that floated frantically around inside you when he just sat near you. When you’d discovered you’d been paired up for the year’s laboratory work, you could hardly believe your luck. All that time spent in the room bent over the light-gas gun and the interferometer, taking notes and watching him fiddle with the buttons and mechanics like he knew exactly what he was doing (you were certain he did) had passed far too quickly for your liking. Soon, the static feeling of being close to him became normal to you, and it started to dissipate the more you chatted between experiments, meeting up to discuss the work, and before long you could confidently say you were ‘friends’. You’d been to a few of his band’s shows, felt your heart leap when you saw the flyers posted on the walls of the student union building, felt the thumping of the bass drum straight to your core and kept your gaze fixed on Brian, working his homemade guitar on the stage in ways you didn’t think was possible. But there was no way just being 'friends’ would ever be enough. After three years of relentlessly pining after him, it could never be enough to stay that way forever.

And your chance was staring you right in the face.

You were almost shaking, you were so nervous. “If you think I can cram all this into my brain in fifteen minutes, you’ve got another thing coming.”  _I want to be with him for as long as I can tonight. I can’t let this get away from me._ “I believe you can do it. Come on, there’s a few more practise questions to do.” How he managed to keep working so solidly for so long was a mystery to you, even if you did share his love of astrophysics.

“You’re a real trooper, you know that?” You stared down at the paper, and once again, the equations became a blur. “What?”  
“I don’t know… how you manage to work so much. I can’t do it. I get distracted. Like now, I’m just…” The sheer amount of raw emotion pooling inside of you was sure to spill out any second.  
“Well, I guess I’m trying to get used to it before the PhD happens, you know?” Of course he was doing a PhD. Of course he was. How could he not?  
“Y-Yeah, good idea I guess…”

“You’re doing one too, right?” He asked, cocking his head to the side. It was so weirdly adorable you could have combusted. You’d been thinking about it, but trying to decide on one thing to do for a full three years at least was a decision you weren’t quite ready to make yet. “I’m thinking about it. Everything’s a bit up in the air right now. I’m not sure if I’m cut out for it.”

“You are. I’ve seen you work, you’re smarter than you think you are. I mean your exam score from the planetary science part was better than mine.” It was true, you’d beaten him by a mere 2% - hardly anything to write home about. You still trailed miles behind him at everything else on the course.  _But… he thinks I can do it. He believes in me._ You were sure you could feel a blush rising in your cheeks, and you turned away to look at the clock, praying the colour would subside and he wouldn’t notice.  _Ten minutes._  “I-I guess, but you’re just… really, uh…” The words didn’t want to form in your mouth, and try as you might, you couldn’t let them take shape. You desperately tried not to notice his ever so slightly sharp teeth as he grinned and lowered his head, laughing to himself. “Don’t sell yourself short. I mean, I don’t even know what I want to do for the PhD yet. At least you’ve got some direction.”  _Goddamnit, stop deflecting me. I need to tell you that I… that I…_

“I mean, you really enjoyed the stuff with Professor Ring on the interplanetary dust, right? I remember you talking about it a lot, the Zodiacal Light or whatever it’s called.”

“Yeah, I think he’s got a PhD position on that. I was thinking about it, but I don’t know. There’s so many options, and most of the time they don’t like it if you stay at the same place for the PhD anyway.”  _Oh God. Please let him at least stay in London._  You knew you couldn’t deal with it if he left so soon and you never said anything to him. “But I like it here. I don’t want to leave.” You had to make your internal sigh of relief as un-obvious as possible. He smirked and leaned forward on the desk.

“That’s good. I don’t… I wouldn’t like it if we never saw each other again.” You wrung your hands in your lap and glanced at the clock.  _Five minutes._  You could feel your entire body burning with static. The silence between you that lasted for a mere few seconds felt like an eternity - maybe this was that whole 'time dilation’ deal they’d been talking about in relativity, and it sure did feel like you were moving at light speed. He stared down at the paper, the lamp light glinting in his hazel eyes, and you were so close to tears. Your eyes welled up and you tried not to wipe them; he would see, and then there would really be nowhere left to hide.

“Is there something you wanted to tell me?”

His words felt like glass shattering. In an almost instinctive reaction, you grabbed your bag and jacket and bolted up onto your feet, frantically grabbing your papers and pens and trying not to look at his surprised face. “I should… I should go, I…”

“[Y/N], wait–”

It was too late, before you knew it, you had pushed your way through the heavy double doors of the Physics department building and the cold night air hit your skin like a tidal wave. You could hear his footsteps behind you and you wiped your eyes, streaming with tears, and you didn’t understand why you were crying so much. _Three years. Three years and I can’t do it._  You headed across the road, the bright lights of the cars in the distance almost blinding you through the tears, and entered the park opposite the department building through the wrought iron gates. You could feel him behind you as you walked quickly towards the fountain, desperately pretending he wasn’t there, pretending you hadn’t made a fool of yourself and that none of this had ever happened.  
And then you gave up. You sat on the edge of the nearby fountain, its jets spilling water up towards the stars that you both loved, droplets splashing onto your back. You buried your face in your hands and let yourself explode into tears, sobbing into your jacket sleeves, finally unable to hold back and unable to contain it any longer.

Your heavy breaths stopped when a warmth wrapped around you. Without a word, Brian had sat next to you and folded his coat around your shoulders, pulling you towards him and letting your head rest on his chest. You could have had a heart attack there and then. His warmth from the very core of his being flowed through you both, burning out the static that had enveloped you all evening, replacing it with a soft glow. His arm was light around your back, and you were sure tears were still falling onto his jumper.  _Is this really happening?_

“You don’t have to say anything. I know. I think I’ve always known.”

Every word he said shot through you. You had been so careful to not catch his glance too often that he would notice, so careful to keep everything to yourself, all the nights you spent thinking about what it would be like to be close to him. You looked up at him and sniffed as he wiped away your last tears with the flat of his thumb. This was almost too perfect to believe. But how could he ever love you, the wreck that you were, emotionally and intellectually? How could such a boy so perfect as him ever feel the same way, ever want to feel you close to him? It didn’t make sense. This wasn’t the scenario you had pictured in your head - it was so much better.

“But– but how?”

His smile widened, and you could see those sharp little fangs of his. His chest rose and fell with his silent laughter. “Might have had something to do with all those looks you kept giving me in lectures, the way you befriended everyone I knew, the fact you practically jumped for joy when we were put together for labs. It all adds up, you know.” He had known.  _The entire time._

“I like you…” The words finally fell off your tongue, your brain nothing more than a haze.

“It’s more than that though, isn’t it?”

You gazed at each other in silence and again, everything was eternal. The splashing of the fountain and the gold of the park’s lamps and the look on his face. And when your lips finally met, it was a supernova. He was so soft, so gentle. He placed his palm against your cheek as he breathed in, gently stroking your face with his thumb. This was the moment you had waited eons for. All that time sat on your own, wondering what this might feel like, and it had been worth it. Nothing could have been more perfect. When you finally detached, your foreheads pressed together, you felt as one.

“I love you, Brian May.”

“I love you too, [Y/N].”

His kiss was deeper this time, his hand firmer as your lips parted, breaths slow and drawn from your lungs as he pulled you over to straddle him on the fountain edge, and you let yourself kneel on the stone as his thin arms wrapped around your waist. You pushed into him, hands tangling in his long curly hair, wanting nothing more than to stay in this moment forever. He tasted so sweet and the stars above were so bright. You gasped with laughter as he lifted the two of you up and stood tall over you, moving down for a final kiss and taking your cold hands in his.

“I want to be with you. For as long as time allows. Which, according to the universe, is going to be a while. I hope you’re alright with that.” He said, holding your hands over his heart, and you loved him more than words could ever say.


End file.
